Poland: Jews Aren’t Welcome

We too must raise our voices loud and clear against this outrageous decision. Call or write to the Polish embassy or consulate nearest you, and tell them what you think of the fact that they are trampling on the rights of Jews.

Remind them politely but firmly that after their behavior during the Holocaust, Poles are in no position to preach to us about morality or decency.

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It shouldn’t have come to this, but as obvious as it is, it bears repeating: for a country that afflicted its Jews so heartlessly in the recent past, Poland has a special responsibility to make up for its transgressions.

And a good place for them to start would be to rescind the ban on shechita forthwith.

Michael Freund is the Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel. He writes a syndicated column and feature stories for the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s leading English-language daily, and he previously served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister’s Office under Benjamin Netanyahu. A native of New York, he holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

What exactly was the Poles “behavior” during the Holocaust and how exactly did the Poles “afflict its Jews so heartlessly?” There were over 3 Million Poles murdered during the Holocaust. When I visited Oświęcim, it was rather apparent that the Germans ran the camps.

What exactly was the Poles "behavior" during the Holocaust and how exactly did the Poles "afflict its Jews so heartlessly?" There were over 3 Million Poles murdered during the Holocaust. When I visited Oświęcim, it was rather apparent that the Germans ran the camps.

“Remind them politely but firmly that after their behavior during the Holocaust, Poles are in no position to preach to us about morality or decency. It shouldn’t have come to this, but as obvious as it is, it bears repeating: for a country that afflicted its Jews so heartlessly in the recent past, Poland has a special responsibility to make up for its transgressions.”

It is rudimentary psychology that this kind of attempt at shaming someone who already obviously sees you as unwelcome does NOTHING to improve the situation. It only makes them resent you more.

By talking about “Poles vs us”, you validate their sense that you are foreign.

"Remind them politely but firmly that after their behavior during the Holocaust, Poles are in no position to preach to us about morality or decency. It shouldn’t have come to this, but as obvious as it is, it bears repeating: for a country that afflicted its Jews so heartlessly in the recent past, Poland has a special responsibility to make up for its transgressions."

It is rudimentary psychology that this kind of attempt at shaming someone who already obviously sees you as unwelcome does NOTHING to improve the situation. It only makes them resent you more.

By talking about "Poles vs us", you validate their sense that you are foreign.

My father was born in Poland in 1933 and only survived because his parents got lucky enough to be captured by the Soviets and interned in a Siberia work camp. My father hated Poland, refused to speak Polish, would never return to Poland and pretty wished the country would fall into the sea. He would visit Germany before he would go to Poland. Coming from that background, I am not surprised with what Poland is doing. The Germans for the most part hated jews politically. The Poles hated the jews personally. My wife wants to go visit Poland as her Grandmother was also Polish and had better memories of the country. I refuse to go there. I told her I have no problem going to Europe and making a 1 or 2 day visit of Auschwitz (where her grandmother was) but I will not make a vacation of visiting that country

My father was born in Poland in 1933 and only survived because his parents got lucky enough to be captured by the Soviets and interned in a Siberia work camp. My father hated Poland, refused to speak Polish, would never return to Poland and pretty wished the country would fall into the sea. He would visit Germany before he would go to Poland. Coming from that background, I am not surprised. The Germans for the most part hated jews politically. The Poles hated the jews personally.

The Poles had a habit of ratting out their fellow Jewish Poles to their Nazi masters and then taking over their homes and businesses. The Polish resistance went out of their way not to help those fighting in the Warsaw rebellion even though they too were fighting the Germans. When the war was over, some member of my father’s family went back to Poland to see what was left of their lives. When they approach their villages, they were shot at and killed. My fathers cousin until this day (she passed away 4 years ago) has the dress she was wearing when went back to Poland. It has bullet holes in it . Although she survived the gunshots, her family thought she was dead and left her in Poland. She recovered and made her way to the US. After the war, it was safer to be in Germany (where my fathers family was) than in Poland. Many nations in German occupied Europe went out of their way to help the Jews although for the most part they failed. Poland was one of those that went out of their way to make sure the Polish Jews disappeared. By the way, the Austrians werent any better.

I TOTALLY agree. Don’t go there and give them your dollars. We went to the Ukraine and Harvey couldn’t stand looking at the people, knowing what they did to the Jews. His father was in Auschwitz, his mother on a kinder transport, very emotionally charged for him. He was glad to see just how backwards the country was, this was 17 years ago. Still used horse and carriages outside of Kiev, and the stores in Kiev were literally empty.

The Poles had a habit of ratting out their fellow Jewish Poles to their Nazi masters and then taking over their homes and businesses. The Polish resistance went out of their way not to help those fighting in the Warsaw rebellion even though they too were fighting the Germans. When the war was over, some member of my father's family went back to Poland to see what was left of their lives. When they approach their villages, they were shot at and killed. My fathers cousin until this day (she passed away 4 years ago) has the dress she was wearing when went back to Poland. It has bullet holes in it . Although he she survived the gunshots, he family thought she was dead and left her in Poland. She recovered and made her way to the US. After the war, it was safer to be in German (where my fathers family was) than in Poland

The Poles had a habit of ratting out their fellow Jewish Poles to their Nazi masters and then taking over their homes and businesses. The Polish resistance went out of their way not to help those fighting in the Warsaw rebellion even though they too were fighting the Germans. When the war was over, some member of my father's family went back to Poland to see what was left of their lives. When they approach their villages, they were shot at and killed. My fathers cousin until this day (she passed away 4 years ago) has the dress she was wearing when went back to Poland. It has bullet holes in it . Although he she survived the gunshots, he family thought she was dead and left her in Poland. She recovered and made her way to the US. After the war, it was safer to be in German (where my fathers family was) than in Poland

I TOTALLY agree. Don't go there and give them your dollars. We went to the Ukraine and Harvey couldn't stand looking at the people, knowing what they did to the Jews. His father was in Auschwitz, his mother on a kinder transport, very emotionally charged for him. He was glad to see just how backwards the country was, this was 17 years ago. Still used horse and carriages outside of Kiev, and the stores in Kiev were literally empty.

Please feel invited to Poland as every Jewish person is. Just please stop the hatred speech as this is not welcomed in our country. I hope that after visiting Poland you will get rid of all the painful prejudice against Polish people you are now suffering from. I hope you will see our country as a place of death of 6 Polish citizens killed by Germans (half of them Jewish). Regarding the comment about Ukraine there is a huge misunderstanding – Ukrainians were part of the German Nazi army as they saw in Hitler a savior on their way to independency. Polish nation fought them and suffered from them a well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia. Regarding the text itself – it was published on the official website of Polish Jewish Forum. Just a few days ago following statement was published there: “Unfortunately, in the context of several absolutely unfortunate wordings used by the author, the text begs for editorial. Do FZP (Forum Żydów Polskich – Polish Jewish Forum) readers will see it or will them (…) be subjected to pure anti-Polish propaganda smuggled under the cover of merits – similar to anti-Semitic texts – generalizing, prejudicial to the people and negative thinking based stereotypical clichés?”. And last but not least Constitutional Tribunal will decide (and the answer is expected to be obviously in favor of religious freedom) about the interpretation of the Animal Protection Right vs. the Law of Religious Associations. So chill out and please apply maximum scrutiny before sending such hatred loaded comments.

Polish citizens were thoroughly murdered by Germans (Nazis) and Russians (Soviets) so out of every 1000 Poles 221 died. Out of thoses 221 statistically 110 were Jewish. Did we invite Germans to our country to kill our citizens? Maybe we invited Russians to complete the work of destruction? Your ignorance is overwhelming sir. Polish nation is one of the biggest victims of IIWW – it is inhuman to say “they got rid of their Jews”. Polish were slaughter and their bodies were lying on the same piles as the Jewish. Read, it does not hurt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBegota

Please feel invited to Poland as every Jewish person is. Just please stop the hatred speech as this is not welcomed in our country. I hope that after visiting Poland you will get rid of all the painful prejudice against Polish people you are now suffering from. I hope you will see our country as a place of death of 6 Polish citizens killed by Germans (half of them Jewish). Regarding the comment about Ukraine there is a huge misunderstanding – Ukrainians were part of the German Nazi army as they saw in Hitler a savior on their way to independency. Polish nation fought them and suffered from them a well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia. Regarding the text itself – it was published on the official website of Polish Jewish Forum. Just a few days ago following statement was published there: “Unfortunately, in the context of several absolutely unfortunate wordings used by the author, the text begs for editorial. Do FZP (Forum Żydów Polskich – Polish Jewish Forum) readers will see it or will them (…) be subjected to pure anti-Polish propaganda smuggled under the cover of merits – similar to anti-Semitic texts – generalizing, prejudicial to the people and negative thinking based stereotypical clichés?”. And last but not least Constitutional Tribunal will decide (and the answer is expected to be obviously in favor of religious freedom) about the interpretation of the Animal Protection Right vs. the Law of Religious Associations. So chill out and please apply maximum scrutiny before sending such hatred loaded comments.

Polish citizens were thoroughly murdered by Germans (Nazis) and Russians (Soviets) so out of every 1000 Poles 221 died. Out of thoses 221 statistically 110 were Jewish. Did we invite Germans to our country to kill our citizens? Maybe we invited Russians to complete the work of destruction? Your ignorance is overwhelming sir. Polish nation is one of the biggest victims of IIWW – it is inhuman to say "they got rid of their Jews". Polish were slaughter and their bodies were lying on the same piles as the Jewish. Read, it does not hurt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBegota

I am sure Poland is beautiful place now and it a great place to visit. However, these comments and feelings arent prejudice against the Poles. These are reaction to the acts of betrayal and murder committed by Poles on Jews. The biggest betrayals happened after the war when the Jews tried to get back to Poland The fact that millions of Poles were killed by the Nazi doesnt excuse how the Poles treated the Jews. I also recognize that there were many Poles that did help the Jews survive and hide, but as a whole the disgust many jews have about Poland is justified. Of course the irony is that Poland is one of Israel biggest supporters

I am sure Poland is beautiful place now and it a great place to visit. However, these comments and feelings arent prejudice against the Poles. These are reaction to the acts of betrayal and murder committed by Poles on Jews. The biggest betrayals happened after the war when the Jews tried to get back to Poland The fact that millions of Poles were killed by the Nazi doesnt excuse how the Poles treated the Jews. I also recognize that there were many Poles that did help the Jews survive and hide, but as a whole the disgust many jews have about Poland is justified. Of course the irony is that Poland is one of Israel biggest supporters